Team

Antonia Tzemanaki
Steven Walker
Anxing Jiang

Pleural effusion is the built up of fluid between the lung and chest wall and it affects a quarter of a million new cases per year in the UK, on top of additional chronic cases already being treated. The condition is commonly linked to congestive heart failure, pneumonia, and cancer; 1/6 patients with metastatic cancer will develop this condition.

Both diagnosis and treatment of the disease involve a medical specialist inserting a needle and removing fluid (pleural aspiration). However, there is variability in skill amongst specialists and there is high reliance on their availability. They also often report low confidence in performing the procedure due to the limited visual feedback and the resulting complications such as piercing of the lung or even visceral organs such as the heart, bleeding and infection or even causing the lung to collapse. Due to the volume of patients and a recurrence rate of 50% in 3 months, there is a growing concern about lack of available specialists.

We are developing a robotic system that will guide the needle autonomously, using real-time ultrasound and force feedback to perform pleural aspiration, which is the removal of the fluid. This will be more accurate, reliable and repeatable than the manual procedure, increasing safety of patients and reducing complications.